Apparatus for counting printed products which are advanced in sheet-by-sheet line arrangement



April 21, 1970 G. URBASCH ETAL 3,508,067

APPARATUS FOR COUNTING PRINTED PRODUCTS WHICH ARE ADVANCED IN SHEET-BY-.SH-EET L'INE ARRANGEMENT Filed Feb. 21. 1968 Fig.4

gm/ I! INVENTORST G UEN L/Rlagsck BY MLAELM IQA-M/i (22;/ v

United States Patent O 3,508,067 APPARATUS FOR COUNTING PRINTED PROD- UCTS WHICH ARE ADVANCED IN SHEET-BY- SHEET LINE ARRANGEMENT Guenther Urbasch, Zeidlerstrasse 45, and Wilhelm Kohfeldt, Thiedeweg 64, both of Hamburg, German Filed Feb. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 707,129 Int. Cl. G06n 7/10 US. Cl. 250-222 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for counting printed products which are fed in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement and incorporating a counting head means provided with a light barrier means. The light barrier means can comprise a suitable light source and a photoelectric transducer means, for instance a photoelectric cell. The counting head means includes a slide surface which confronts the advancing printed products. This slide surface incorporates a web portion arranged between the light source and the photoelectric transducer means and which is disposed substantially transversely with respect to the light source. This web portion advantageously extends over the full width of the bundle of light rays emanating from the light source and is contacted by the forward fold edge or leading edge of each advancing printed product.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for counting printed products and the like which are forwardly advanced in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement, such as for instances newspapers, periodicals, magazines and so forth, which are delivered from a, e.g. printing press. Under the expression sheet-by-sheet line arrangement as employed herein, there may be understood an arrangement of printed products which are disposed in essentially staggered stacked relationship.

Mechanical and electro-mechanical counting devices are known for this purpose. These prior art counting devices scan the leading fold portion or line of each forwardly advancing printed product by means of a feeler. The drawback of such type physical construction resides in the fact that with very thin printed products it is not possible to positively scan the fold line when employing a mechanical scanning or feeling operation and, on the other hand, it is further possible that due to the formation of bowed portions, folds or kinks, a counting operation can take place.

A further drawback of these known prior art constructions resides in the fact that the feeler spring means must be adjusted quite accurately with regard to its resistance against movement perpendicular to the direction of movement of the printed products. Thus, for instance, if the resistance of the feeler spring means against movement is too small, then considerable false counts occur. These faulty counting operations might be caused by virtue of the feeler spring means carrying out even a movement when sliding over a hump or undulating portion or fold which is present at the surface of the printed product, and which then triggers a counting pulse. A further reason for such false counting operations can be explained in terms of the oscillations of the feeler spring means which result when the feeler spring means slides over a realtively high edge of a printed product which is to be counted.

On the other hand, if the resistance of the feeler spring means against movement is too large, then the danger exists that the feeler spring means will not always carry out such a movement to cause triggering of a counting pulse in the presence of a printed product. Additionally, in utilizing such type feeler the danger always exists that the end of the feeler will have the tendency of digging into the printed product.

In any event, with the known constructions of counting devices of the type mentioned, adjustments of the feeler or its spring must be frequently undertaken, regardless whether the movements of the feeler are determined electro-mechanically or photoelectrically.

Furthermore, a photoelectric counting mechanism is known for printed products which are advanced in a sheetby-sheet line arrangement in which a bundle of light rays is directed at an inclination to and in the direction of movement of the printed products. Owing to the inclination of the bundle of light rays a shadow should appear upon the arrival of the forward or leading edge of a printed product. This shadow is sensed by a photoelectric cell. The drawback of this type of construction is that, for instance, if dark locations are present at the printed product, the photoelectric cell will likewise respond, causing a false count. A further disadvantage exists with very thin printed products since no clearly discernable shadow can be produced.

Finally, it is to be mentioned that a similar photoelectric counting mechanism is known for printed products which are advanced in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement and which is of the type incorporating a counting head which is anchored against entrainment by the moving printed products. During the counting opeartion, this counting head slides upon the printed products which are in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement. Additionally, a light barrier incorporating a light source and a photoelectric cell is arranged in the counting head. With this known counting mechanism the bundle of light rays are likewise directed at an inclination, however towards the direction of movement of the printed products and against the leading fold line or fold edge thereof. Thus, with this illumination direction the leading edge or fold line normally appears brighter than the remaining portion of the printed product. The photoelectric cell, which is provided for this counting mechanism, is directed towards or cooperates with the leading illuminated fold edge, and therefore, generates the counting impulse or pulse. Once again, a disadvantage of this type of photoelectric counting mechanism resides in the fact that in the presence of a dark printed portion at the fold line itself, the integrity of the counting operation becomes questionable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present in-- vention to provide an improved counting apparatus for printed products which are moving in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement and which considerably overcomes in a most effective and reliable manner the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art constructions.

Another, more specific object of the present invention relates to an improved counting mechanism for printed products which are disposed in a staggered stacked relationship, and wherein the counting operation is undertaken relatively simply, but quite reliably, and without danger of damaging the printed products.

Still a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved counting apparatus for printed products of the type described which is relatively simple in construction, economical to manufacture, highly reliable in operation, not readily subject to breakdown, and can perform its counting operation in an extremely quick, eflicient and satisfactory manner.

Generally speaking, in order to avoid false counts the invention is based upon the principle of permitting the light barrier to be interrupted by each printed product. Accordingly, the present invention proposes an apparatus of the aforementioned type which is manifested by the features that the slide surface of the counting head Which faces towards the sheet-by-sheet line arrangement of printed products is provided with a Web portion between the light source and the transducer means. This web portion is disposed substantially with respect to the bundle of light rays and extends over the entire width of such bundle of light rays. Furthermore, this web portion is contacted by the leading fold edge of the printed products.

By virtue of the foregoing arrangement it is insured that each leading fold edge, during such time as it slides or moves past the slide surface at the region of the web portion positively interrupts the bundle of light rays, and delivers the counting pulse, regardless of the color of the fold portion or edge.

In so doing, and in accordance with a preferred embodiment of counting head according to the invention, such is advantageously provided at its slide surface in the region of the web portion with at least one nose member which protrudes towards the sheet-by-sheet line arrange ment of printed products. Additionally, the counting head is provided with a respective opening, one of which is associated with the light source and the other of which is associated'with the transducer means. One such opening is disposed at the region of the nose member, and the other opening is arranged upstream with regard to such nose member, and thus, the web portion is located between these openings.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the counting head is provided with a single nose member which is located approximately in the middle of such counting head. This single nose member is provided with a light discharge opening at a portion of its rounded peripheral surface which is located upstream with regard to the direction of movement of the printed products.

The invention further contemplates resiliently biasing the counting head in a direction towards the advancing sheet-by-sheet line arrangement of printed products.

In order to ensure that each advancing printed product interrupts and again frees the light barrier once, it is desirable that the nose member or the nose members possess a height which is somewhat greater than the maximum thickness of the printed products which are to be counted.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, it is desirable to accommodate the bearing force of the counting head to the elasticity of the printed products which are arranged in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement, in other words in a staggered stacked array. In this manner, the resiliency of the printed products perpendicular to their surfaces is utilized in a very advantageous way in order to guide the counting head in such a manner that each arriving printed product does, in fact, initially interrupt the light barrier and then again releases such.

A considerable advantage of the counting apparatus according to the invention resides in the fact that practically no movable components are provided for the counting head. Thus, during operation no supervision or maintenance is required.

The bearing or contact force of the counting head against the forwardly advancing printed products is selected with respect tothe resistance of the printed products against being pressed in in such a manner that the rounded nose or the rounded nose members provided at the counting head imbed themselves in each preceding printed product to such a depth or extent that the subsequent printed product which is to be counted passes so tightly along the bottom surface of the counting head that it positively interrupts the light barrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood, and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent,

when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view of a counting head designed according to the teachings of the present invention and depicting its arrangement along a series of advancing printed products which are disposed in a sheet-bysheet line arrangement as shown;

FIGURE 2 is a view quite similar to FIGURE 1, however, illustrating the counting head in a different relative position with respect to the forwardly advancing printed products;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the inventive counting apparatus, similar to the showing of FIGURES 1 and 2, yet depicting the counting head in a still different relative position;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view of the inventive counting head used in the arrangement shown in FIGURES l to 3;

FIGURE 4a is a fragmentary bottom plan view of a modified form of counting head; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view of a still further embodiment of inventive counting head operating on the principle of a direct path for the light rays.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Describing now the drawing, and initially referring to FIGURES l to 4 inclusive, it will be seen that the inventive counting mechanism incorporates a counting head means 1 which is pivotably mounted at location 2 at a suitable rod member 10. Mounting of the counting head means 1 at the rod member 10 is undertaken in such a manner that this counting head means 1 can rock or pivot towards and away from the printed products 3 which are forwardly advanced in the direction of the arrow in a so-called sheet-by-sheet line arrangement, in other words in the staggered stacked arrangement depicted. The counting head means 1 is biased in the direction towards the advancing stream of printed products 3 by means of a suitable spring member 4. This spring member 4 primarily serves to prevent any jumping of the counting head 1 during operation, which might otherwise occur particularly when the printed products 3 are moving at high feed velocities. The printed products 3 can, for instance, be delivered by a suitable printing press and may be newspapers, periodicals, or, in fact, any other type of object or article which is suitable for counting by the inventive apparatus.

Countinuing, it will be seen that the counting head means 1, in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of FIGURES 1 to 4, carries two nose members 5 at the forward end of its bottom surface. When the count- 1ng head means 1 is located in its counting position these nose members 5 bear against the forwardly advancing stream of printed products 3. Furthermore, by referring to the drawing it will be seen that the nose members 5 are rounded in such a manner that there is insured for positive contact or running of the printed products 3 along the peripheral surface of such nose members 5, as such will be better seen by referring to FIGURES 2 and 3 for instance. Additionally, as recognized by inspecting FIGURE 4, both of these nose members 5 are laterally spaced at the bottom surface at the counting head means 1 with respect to the direction of feed of the printed products 3.

Furthermore, a light barrier means in the form of a light source 6 and a photoelectric transducer means 7 is arranged in the counting head means 1. The photoelectric transducer means 7 can, for instance, be a photoelectric cell. The bundle of light rays emanating from the light source 6 pass through an opening 8 provided at the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1 and can arrive at the photoelectric cell 7 through a further opening 9 provided at the bottom surface 11 of this counting head means 1. This occurs, when, for instance, this bundle of light rays is reflected by the printed products 3 which are passing beneath the counting head means 1. The course of the bundle of light rays of the light barrier means is shown schematically in FIGURE 1 by the broken lines.

Furthermore, it should be understood that the height of the nose members is chosen such that it is somewhat greater than the maximum thickness of the printed products 3 which are to be counted. Additionally, the bearing or contact force of the counting head means 1, which results from its own weight and the pre-stress or biasing action of the spring member 4, is selected such that the nose members 5 press into the printed products 3 to such an extent that a printed product 3 which is to be counted passes snugly along the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1. This bearing force of the counting head means 1 is chosen as a function of the thickness and the strength or resistance of the material of the printed products 3 against being pressed in.

Finally, it is mentioned that the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1 which defines a slide surface includes a Web portion 12 confronting the sheetby-sheet line arrangement of advancing printed products 3. As shown in FIGURES 1 to 4, this web portion 12 is disposed between the light source 6 and the photoelectric transducer means 7 and extends substantially transversely with respect to the aforementioned light source. Additionally, web portion 12 extends over the full width of the bundle of light rays emanating from the light source 6 and is contacted by the forward fold edge or lead portion 13 of each advancing printed product 3.

The aforedescribed counting apparatus of the present invention operates as follows:

When, as shown in FIGURE 1, a pinted product 3 which is to be counted, approaches the counting head means 1, then the nose members 5 imbed themselves 1nto this printed product 3 to such an extent until the upper edge of the printed product 3 which is now to be counted passes snugly along the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1, as such is best shown in FIGURE 2. When the forward edge of the printed product which is to be counted passes the opening 9 communicating with the photoelectric cell 7, then the llght barrier means is interrupted and the photoelectric cell 7 is no longer illuminated. As a result, it delivers a signal which is appropriately converted in a known manner into a counting pulse, which, for instance, can then be indicated at any suitable conventional optical or mechanical device.

The forward edge of the printed product 3 which is under consideration then passes onto the nose members 5, whereby the counting head means 1 is raised to such an extent that the light barrier means is again released and once more the photoelectric cell 7 is illuminated. This condition is depicted in FIGURE 3, where it will be recognized that the bundle of light rays leaving the opening 8 once again are reflected by the upper surface of the printed products 3 onto the photoelectric cell 7. This mode of operation repeats in the aforedescribed manner for each printed product 3 which is to be counted.

Instead of both nose members 5, as such have been illustrated in the embodiment of inventive counting apparatus as shown in FIGURES 1 to 4, it would be possible to use only a single nose member, such as the nose member 5 shown in the modified construction of FIG- URE 4a. Here, it will be recognized that this single nose member 5' is located approximately at the center of the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1. In this instance, the light discharge opening 8 can be advantageously provided at the rounded peripheralor bottom surface of such nose member 5. More precisely, it will be seen that this light discharge opening 8 is provided at the rearward or upstream directed rounded portion of the peripheral surface of the nose member 5. Further, there will be recognized the opening 9 leading to the photoelectric transducer means 7 which is provided at the bottom surface 11 of the counting head means 1 and between the openings 8 and 9 there again appears the aforementioned web portion 12 along which the printed products 3 which are to be counted slide. The manner of operation of this modified form of counting head means 1 is the same as the operation of the counting head means considered with respect to the previous embodiment depicted in FIGURES 1 to 4.

The counting principle of the present invention can also he basically employed with relatively stiff printed products which generally cannot be appreciably pushed in by the nose member or members of the counting head means 1.

Furthermore, it has been found that when utilizing the counting head means of the invention it is possible to obtain a relatively faultless counting of the printed products which are disposed in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement even if these printed products are advanced at high velocities. Furthermore, since no movable components are provided which slide upon the stream of printed products, a counting head unit designed according to the invention does not require any servicing during operation. This is not the case with the known prior art constructions in which the counting operation oftentimes must be interrupted in order to provide for a re-adjustment of the mechanically moving components.

Finally, reference is made to the variant form of counting head means 1 shown in FIGURE 5. This counting head means 1 of FIGURE 5 is conveniently illustrated in the same way as the embodiment of counting apparatus shown in FIGURES l to 3, but this embodiment employs a direct path for the light rays. More specifically, it will be seen that the bundle of light rays between the light source 6 and the photoelectric transducer means 7 passes, in this case, in a straight line, owing to the action of the reflecting mirrors or equivalent structure 14. Furthermore, as the bundle of light rays passes in a straight line between the reflecting mirrors associated with the light source 6 and photoelectric transducer means 7 it is bridged by the web portion 12 located between the openings 8 and 9. Also in this case the bundle of light rays is interrupted as soon as the leading edge portion or fold line of a printed product 3 slidingly contacts this web portion 12. The counting operation for this embodiment should be obvious in view of the fore going discussion of the manner of operation of the preceding embodiments.

While there is shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims. Accordingly, what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for counting printed products which are advanced in a sheet-by-sheet line arrangement comprising:

(a) a counting head means which during the performance of a counting operation slides upon the sheetby-sheet line arrangement of forwardly advancing printed products;

(b) means for anchoring said counting head means so that it is not entrained by said forwardly advancing printed products;

(c) light barrier means provided at said counting head means, said light barrier means including a light source and a photoelectric transducer;

((1) said counting head means being provided with a slide surface disposed between said light source and said photoelectric transducer, and said sheet-bysheet line arrangement of advancing printed products, said slide surface confronting said sheet-bysheet line arrangement of advancing printed products;

(e) said slide surface being provided with a first opening therethrough associated With said light source and with a second opening therethrough associated with said photoelectric transducer; and

(i) said slide surface further including a web portion disposed between said first and second openings extending substantially transverse to the advancing direction of said printed products and over substantially the full width of the bundle of light rays emanating from said light source and passing through said first opening, said web portion being consecutively contacted by the leading fold edge of each advancing printed product.

2. An apparatus for counting printed products as defined in claim 1, further including at least one nose member provided at said slide surface of said counting head means in the region of said web portion, said nose member protruding in the direction of the sheet-by-sheet line arrangement of advancing printed products, and wherein said first opening through said slide surface is disposed at the region of said nose member, and wherein said second opening through said slide surface is arranged upstream with respect to said nose member, the portion of said slide surface of said counting head means disposed between said openings defining said web portion.

3. An apparatus for counting printed products as defined in claim 2, wherein two nose members are provided which are laterally spaced from one another with respect to'the direction of movement of the sheet-by-sheet line arrangement of advancing printed products, and wherein said first opening provided for said light source is arranged between said nose members.

4. An apparatus for counting printed products as defined in claim 2, wherein only a single nose member is provided and which is arranged substantially centrally of said counting head means, said single nose member having a rounded peripheral portion, and wherein said first opening provided for the departure of the bundle of light rays emanating from said light source is disposed at an upstream arranged portion of said rounded peripheral surface of said nose member with respect to the direction of movement of said advancing printed products.

5. An apparatus for counting printed products as defined in claim 2, wherein said at least one nose member possesses a height which is somewhat greater than the maximum thickness of the printed products which are to be counted.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,908,825 10/1959 Frankle et al. 250223 X 2,948,817 8/ 1960 Carpenter 250231 3,219,829 11/1965 Reist 250223 3,414,732 12/ 1968 Stegenga i 250222 X WALTER STOLWEIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 270-58 

